Marcie found the early stages of the return journey a lot less stressful, being able to appreciate the view of the earth as they flew past the ribbon of satellites that hung in Low Earth Orbit. Although she could see them as little dots on the horizon, the satellites did not pose much of a threat, and the ship cruised past all of the space debris without incident. However, that calm did not last for long, as the ship began to approach the outer reaches of the earth.
"Mission Control, we are now approaching the upper atmosphere, please advise the angle of entry." Dr Cardillo spoke on the radio. Marcie didn't hear the reply, but was slightly reassured as Dr Cardillo confidently confirmed their position, as she angled the ship towards the desired angle.
The rocket began to accelerate faster as it began to be pulled in by Earth's gravity. Marcie looked around with concern as the metal around her began to rattle. Dr Williams noticed her agitation and tried to calm her down.
"We're about to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Don't worry too much about it. Just hold on and we'll be home in a few minutes."
"We've lost radio contact." Dr Cardillo announced calmly, as a fiery red arc began to form around the outer shell of the spacecraft, which Marcie could see part of out of the window.
"Is this normal?" Marcie looked at Dr Williams again with worry.
"Yes. It does look scary but, I can assure you, we'll be fine." The craft began to rattle even harder, and Marcie felt the strain on her body for what felt like an eternity as the seatbelts pressed against her, holding her in place. A minute of constant dreading about the various ways she could die evaporated in a second, as Dr Cardillo deployed the first of the parachutes.
A thousand cheers and hollers filled the control room as the craft began to slow, and Marcie and co could hear it too as the radio came back online. After a few more seconds, Dr Cardillo deployed the secondary parachutes, slowing them down even further as they floated down gently over the sea before splashing down safely in the Gulf of Mexico.
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Dr Cardillo spoke to the rest of the crew upon landing, as they all took off their helmets.
"Yeah, we're fine." Marcie smiled for the first time in a while, happy that the trip back was finally over.
"Did you enjoy going up into space?" Dr Carson asked her.
"Yeah, up until re-entry it was fun. I'll have a lot to say when I get home." Marcie replied. The 5 of them opened the hatch and stared out at the open sea, while they waited to be picked up.
"It's nice." Marcie spoke as the sound of lapping waves filled the air, softly rocking the floating craft forward.
"Just don't go leaning over the edge now." Dr Williams advised. "The water's pretty deep here."
"I won't." Marcie chuckled, as she turned back to face the sea. The sunset glittered off the tops of the waves, creating a beautiful spectacle that stretched for miles, the silence only broken by the sound of an occasional bird hunting for fish. This continued for several minutes, until the peace was broken by the loud tooting of a ship's horn. Leaning out of the craft, Marcie took a look outside.
"It's here!" she called out to the rest of the crew.
"That must be our ride home." Dr Cardillo surmised. The ship, a small naval cruiser, pulled up alongside the craft and stopped, as one of its crew unloaded a gantry to walk up on. Marcie took the honour of walking out first, greeted with claps and the occasional cheer by those present. Waiting at the bow of the ship were three familiar faces, and Marcie ran towards them as soon as she saw them.
"Marcie!" Morag, Linus and Charlie Brown welcomed her in unison as she ran into their waiting arms.
"You're Okay!" Morag exclaimed with relief.
"Were you scared?" Charlie Brown added.
"Did you have fun?" Added Linus.
"Well, yes to both of those I guess. At least I'm home now." Marcie replied. "Is mom here?"
"No. she's with your dad. I heard he gets seasick." Morag answered.
"He does." Marcie replied. "Roy's not here either, I notice."
"Nah, he's busy giving evidence with his dad." Morag replied. "Why don't you take a seat, I've got some stories to tell." Morag and co sat down in a circle, with the sea as a backdrop, as Morag began to regale while the ship started moving.
"So, after you went up in the rocket, Linus, Charlie Brown, Roy and I got picked up by some of the NASA staff. And after we went to mission control, and explained to the control-man what happened with Roy and the kidnapping and how it ties to Matheson, and everything, he rang Matheson, asked him some questions, and then reported him to the police." Morag began.
"A couple of hours later," Linus continued. "One of the big wigs announced that Matheson had been fired, and that everyone in the control room was being investigated. Charlie Brown and I argued that most of the workers wouldn't have known about it but the Control-man admitted as much responsibility as he could. We're not sure how that's gonna turn out, but we do know that Matheson is going to stand trial."
"What about the so called 'tour guides'?" Marcie asked. "Surely they must have been in on Matheson's scheme?"
"We did mention them when we first got to mission control. I'll ask if they've followed up on that." Morag replied. "I'll bet it won't take long for the police to catch them."
"Hope so." Marcie replied, as she stared out in front of her. The waves were shorter and higher now, an indicator they were nearing land. Before long Marcie and Co could see the shoreline on the horizon, and with it, a vision of home. Marcie strained her eyes to look at six small silhouettes in the distance.
"That'll be our parents." Linus guessed. And indeed he was right. All of them stood waiting patiently, a couple of them taking pictures of their kids. The ship pulled up against the pier, and came to a halt, as the astronauts and crew members began to disembark. Marcie ran towards her parents without even a second thought, hugging them as tightly as she could.
"Oh, Marcie we've missed you so much! Are you alright? Was I scary up there? Did they hurt you at all?"
"I'm fine mom, really." Marcie replied, as her mom gave her an even tighter hug."
"Did you enjoy space?" Her dad asked.
"Yeah. It was amazing. But I'm glad to be back home." Marcie replied.
"Me too kid, me too."
Over the next couple of weeks, things got back to normal for Marcie, Morag and the others. Meanwhile, the police continued their investigation. Daryl Matheson and his subordinates were both sentenced to 5 years in jail for Kidnapping and Conspiracy to Kidnap. The tour guides were eventually caught and are currently awaiting trial. Elsewhere in NASA, the controlman was given a reprimand for poor scrutiny of Matheson's behaviour, and the rest of the crew, including the astronauts, went unpunished, given their belief that the project had been cleared by the board. After news of Marcie's rocket flight broke, Marcie was invited to speak about it live on television, which she refused, while sponsors learning of Matheson's actions swiftly began to pull out of the series, rendering it impossible for the racing series to run for a second season, much to the relief of all of the parents, and a number of the kids too.
FIN